Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (Taqa) advanced 1.5 per cent to AED1.35 ($0.37), a nine-month high after completing the sale of its 7 per cent stake in Tesla Motors, a US-based electric car manufacturer for AED415m.

Taqa also announced on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) website its acquisition of half of a 1,000MW gas-fired independent power producer (IPP) in Sulaymaniyah in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, which also helped push up its share price.

The two announcements failed to boost the ADX General Index, which closed flat at 2,558.14 on 8 April.

Real estate developers Aldar Properties and Sorouh Real Estate, which are in talks for a possible merger both gained 1.71 per cent to close at AED1.18 and AED1.17 respectively.

Eleven of the shares on the ADX advanced, seven declined and 12 closed unchanged. About 86 million stocks were traded on the day with a value of AED97.5m.